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Employers Should Pay Their Interns. Here's Why

Proponents of unpaid internships say the jobs help aspiring professionals get on-site experience and résumé entries that can spur their careers. Detractors insist that unpaid positions exploit workers, take jobs from would be entry-level employees, favor the privileged who can afford to make no money, and perhaps most importantly, break longstanding labor laws... employment defense lawyers are increasingly advising clients to start paying interns at least the minimum wage...
— forbes.com

6 Comments

I interned. for free. got a scholarship out of it. and a really good understanding of how the shop I was at worked. who did what, what skills they had, the hierarchy of skills that brought a design into being. it was super fuckin useful - in fact one of the most useful early experiences I had. of course I was a total wet behind the ears idiot at the time, regardless of my education (or perhaps, because of it...?) Not a single regret, though the experience sucked at the time. It was a gamble I accepted and its terms were transparent. A lot of the young teachers I know probably got in the game via similar routes (ie accepting the rewards that people could offer: less cash, a place in the academic line). Now, that doesn't help some bloke on the Ferragamo shop floor, does it?

Don't invest your time in someone who has no ability or power to reciprocate in some form. Generally speaking, who isn't against unpaid internships? Im not advocating for them... but my bandit mask is very comfortable.

boy in well, you could have also gained all of those wonderful educational benefits while being paid. The fact that your firm chose not to pay you reflects terribly not on you but on them: poor business sense, selfishness, greed, willingness to exploit others for personal gain, willingness to break the very same laws that protect them as a business. If you (the generic unpaid intern "you", not you personally or this firm in particular) had stolen one of their designs and walked with it, you can bet they'd be crying for protections granted under the law. But they aren't willing to extend those protections to others if it benefits them. That's deeply unethical (though common) and also illegal.

From the article: It’s easy to imagine a week-long apprenticeship where the trainees spend most of their time learning, rather than doing productive labor. But it’s tough to imagine one that stretches for three to six months. This is a really great point. A week or two in a firm isn't really a "job", it's an experience. But the firms that rely on long-term unpaid labor are breaking the law and damaging the profession as well as the economics of the entire culture.

but my teaching experience has little do with this stuff. found my own path.

as an older student, I actually turned down job offers from professors because I didn't want to participate in that type of exchange/scene anymore. Honestly, looking back, that was a mistake. Small price to pay to keep some doors open. 20/20 hindsight.

I have done an internship recently with no pay, and must say it has one of the best choices I have ever done. I had other paid options on my hand, but is was a low monthly stipend so it was still nowhere close to the minimum wage if you count in the long hours you would work.

I would say that in general unpaid internships in not accepted, however there is some exceptions where you have to ask yourself some questions of where 'you' will be in the internship. For instance are you being exploited as a cheep work force? is your internship replacing another potential paid employee? there is a lot of small offices a round, so would they have the resources to pay you? Are you expecting to learn from your experiences? or is it just another 'work experience' your resume.

I was in a small somewhat theoretical office where I learn a great deal that I potentially could increase the quality of my schoolwork.

simonou, I'm glad you had a good experience. The question of what *you* (generically) will get out of any experience is always a question worth asking. Firms I have worked in and owned have done some jobs we knew were money losers because we wanted to do them and felt we would get something of value in return. This is always the case in professional development: does the benefit outweigh the risk?

My beef is with firms exploiting people, period. And we know it's rampant in our industry. I won't shame a student who wants to hang out and learn from a firm for no pay - I wish they didn't have to sell themselves for nothing, but I understand it on some level. I *will* shame firms who don't pay for good labor. It means the firm is lousy at business, unethical, ignorant of laws at best and blatantly violating them for personal gain at worst.